Selection criteria for the 35th Busan
International Short Film Festival International Competition

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In selecting the
films submitted to the 35th Busan International Short Film Festival, the 20
members of the preliminary jury, 15 people from Korea and 5 from abroad, followed
strict guidelines for the past three
months. A total of 968 films went
through two elimination processes,resulting in 20 films selected for Korean
Competition.

Much like in International Competition, there was a clean lean towards fiction with 74% of entries, followed by animation (15%), experimental (7%) and documentary (4%). There was however a notable increase in number ofanimated films compared to
previous editions.

Korean short films deal mostly with school life, family or relationship with others, and with difficulties in employment, which are young people’s and Korean society’s nowadays problems. This year, feelings of frustration towards employment and society particularly stand
out, as well as various perspectives on feminism. Overall, Korean society as depicted in short films appears to be darker and more desolate than ever; and the
films tend to focus on issues that are ignored or forgotten by the public. However, the fact
that many submitted films lean towards a repetitive genre shows a lack of
concern in questioning for new answers through the films, a task that we
actually should all be put to.

The 35th Busan International Short
Film Festival's preliminary jury for the Korean
Competition followed two standards in order to select the finalists: "Short Filmness" and
"Issue Awareness".

Firstly, the notion of "Short Filmness" applies to movies which
definetheir own principleswithout comparison with feature films but, instead, by finding their own independence, and their own
voice,in the short format. Based on this, the jury paid greater
attention to outstanding aesthetic,
philosophical and artistic
perspectivesbysingling out examples of mise-en-scène, scriptwriting and cinematography that are specific to
short films.

Meanwhile,"Issue Awareness" describes another
effective characteristic of short films which isto reflect on contemporary politics, society and economics in order to draw a
certain universality out of them. Whether the films would point towards these
issues directly or indirectly, this is the second standard that the jury had
to consider.

We would like to express our deepest gratitude to all who have submitted
their films. The members of the 35th
Busan International Short Film Festival's preliminary jury delightedly fulfilled the task to review thefilms despite their
dramatically increased number,
and it was for them an unforgettable
and precious experience.

Thank you.

The Preliminary Jury of the 35th Busan International
Short Film Festival